Sewer-flushing device



Jan. 21, 1930. R. c. HALYBURTON 1,744,256

SEWER FLUSHING DEVICE Filed Feb. 11, 1928 INVENTOR.

ff K V/Q/ME %NEY Patented Jan. 21, 1930 UNITE s ATES PATENT QFFICE ROYC. HALYBURTON, 0F LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 CHARLES R. LION,

' OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA SEWER-FLUSHING DEVICE Application filedFebruary 11, 1928.

This invention relates to sewer flushing devices and is particularlydirected to that general class of device which automatically functionsto periodically efiect a flushing of 5 the sewer.

A device of this general character comprises a flushing well having avalved outlet com municating with the sewer conduit to be flushed, saidvalve being arrangedto be automatically opened by a tripping mechanismcontrolled by a predeterminedhead of water which is permitted to flowinto the well at a predetermined rate. The water in the well, when itreaches a predetermined level flows into a tripping pan or bucket, whichwhen it receives a suflicient quantity of water to overbalance theweight of the valve, serves to opensaid valve to allow the main. body ofwater to flow into the sewer conduit, thereby flushing the sewer.

In a construction in which the valve is of the submerged type, that iswith the valve located at or near the bottom of the flushing well, thevalve is urged to closed position not only by its own weight but by theweight of the water above the valve. It will be understood that for anygiven ratio between the weight of the valve and the capacity of thebucket, the valve will not open if the main body of water in the wellhas a depth which is greater than a predetermined maximum. and while itis realized that the capacity of the bucket could be increased toovercome the static pressure of a body of water of any reasonable depth,there is however a limit to the size of bucket which may be used in connection with standard sewer systems, such limit being due to lack ofspace in the well to install a large bucket and due to the prohibitivecost of manufacture of a large bucket which must necessarily be made ofrelatively expensive non-corrosive material.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sewerflushing device of the general character above referred to, in which,with a given size of valve and a given relative capacity of actuatingbucket, the valve will open against a greater static pressure head, thusenabling the employment of a body of flushing fluid of greater depththan Serial No. 253,576.

heretofore employed in devices of this submerged valve character, and'inwhich the static pressure of the outrushing water tends to assist in theopening of the valve and in maintaining the valve open until the well isemptied.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a valve andvalve seat construction in which the valve ring cannot spread and inwhich the action of the valve tends to maintain said ring in place.

Various other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent fromthe following description of the accompanying drawing which illustratesa preferred form of embodiment of the invention and which form a part ofthis disclosure.

Of the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section disclosing the flushing device mounted foroperation within a well of a sewerage system.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detailview showing the valve in its closedposition.

In the drawings, 10 designates a well of any particular design,communicating with a pit 11 which communicates with a sewer conduit 12.The top of the well has a manhole ring 13 closed by an inner man-holecover 14 and an outer man-hole cover 15 preferably located approximatelylevel with the street.

Leading into the well near its top, is a water pipe 16 provided with avalve 17 which may be conveniently reached from the manhole and beregulated to permit water to flow into the well at any desired rate.

Mounted between the well 10 and the pit 11 is a false bottom plate 18,preferably formed of wood which has been treated with asphalt or othersuitable material to render it water tight, said bottom plate beingpreferably caulked in a metal frame 19 which is securely anchored in themasonry of the well. This bottom plate 18 forms a support for the entiremechanism of the device and has an opening 20 therein constituting adischarge port establishing direct communication be tween the well andthe sewer conduit. An annular valve seat member 21 is secured in saidopening 20 by screws 22 and co-operating with said seat is a bell-shapedvalve 23 having a valve ring 24 preferably formed of rubber and adaptedto engage sa1d seat memher when the valve is closed.

Connected with the upper end of the valve 23 is a rod 25 which extendsupwardly and is pivotally connected to one end of a walking-beam 26.Said walking-beam 26 is pivotally supported between its ends on a pivotpin 27 carried by an arm which is vertically adjustable on a tubularstandard 29, said standard being hollow throughout its height andprovided near its lower end with an annular flange 30 by which it issecured to the upper surface of the bottom plate 18, by suitable bolts31. This standard has a depending skirt 32 which extends through a holein said bottom plate and is provided with an overflow pipe 33 which isscrewthreaded into the wall of the standard so as to be swung radiallyin relation to its mounting to raise or lower its outer open end andvary the maximum level of the body of water in the well.

A downwardly extending bracket 34 is secured to the under surface of thebottom plate 18 by suitable means and an actuating pan or b'ucl-zet 35is provided with hinge lugs 36 pivotally connected to said bracket at37, so that said bucket is pivotally supported within the pit 11 belowthe tubular standard 29. Extending upwardly from the horizontal portionof the floor of the bucket 37 is an ear 38 to which is pivotallyconnected the lower end of a rod 39. lhis rod extends upwardly throughthe tubular standard 29 and is pivotally connected at 40 with thewalkingbeam 26.

' The floor of the'bueket tapers upwardly to a point close to the upperedges of the side walls of the bucket and a cover plate 41 is secured tosaid side wallsand to the floor of the bucket and extends from one sidewall across to the other and rearwardly substantially one-half thelength of the bucket. Near the outer endof the bucket the floor thereof:

is provided with a drain opening 42, the purpose of the cover platebeing to retain the water in the bucket a suflicient length of time toinsure a complete opening ot the valve and the purpose of the drainopening being to perinit the water to drain from the bucket after thecompletion of the flushing operation, so the bucket may be then returnedto normal positionby the weight of the valve.

A bracket 43 extends laterally from the standard 29 and surrounds therod 25=so as to guide said rod and the valve during the operation of themechanism.

,While the valves of devices of the type herein referred to are guidedin their movements, such guide means allow some lateral play in'orderthat the mechanism may move freely and sees to do away with thenecessity of close machining of the parts. 'F or this reason it isdesirable to' employ a tapered valve seat in order that the valve may,in a measure, be self centering as it closes. In practice it is veryseldom that the valve drops directly to seating position, it being amore frequent occurrence for one point of the valve ring to strike theseat first.

In the construction herein disclosed, the valve seat 45 is formed on thetop edge of the valve of the valve seat member 21 and tapers inwardlyand upwardly, and the rubber valve ring 24 is embedded in a groove 46 inthe under surface of the valve, which groove defines a depending outerlip 47 and a depending inner lip 48 somewhat shorter than said outerlip, the lower seating surface of the valve ring being taperedinwardly-and upwardly to correspond with the taper off the valve seat.With this arrangement any pounding of the valve upon its seat'tends tocompress the ring into its confining groove instead of causing it toexpand, it being evident that the outer lip 47 effectively prevents anyexpanding of the valve ring.

The seat portion of the valve seat member 21 extends upwardly above theupper surface of the bottom plate 18 and this dis sition of the sea-ttogether with the inwar ly and upwardly tapered valve ring has a veryimportant function contributing to the ease of operating of the valve.In a flushing device of this general character, any pronounced suctioninfluence which is created by the outrushing water and which tends toprematurely reseat thevalve, is very detrimental, and for this reason Ihave arranged the present construction in such a manner that suchsuction influence on the valve is reversed, and will with the staticpressure of the water, assist in maintaining the valve open, that is,the outrushing water is first directed upwardly by the upstanding valveseat to impinge upon the lower surface of the valve and valve ring,thustending to open the valve and maintain it open so longl as the wateris discharging and consequent y any suctioninfluence present will beexerted inwardly and upwardly in the same path past the valve seat andlower surface of the valve ring and the valve and for this reason willtend to elevate the valve. Inwardly towards the center of the valve thewater and the suction influence will again reverse and be directeddownwardly through the valve opening 20 but herethey have littleinfluence upon the valve itself.

By actual tests it has been found that this arrangement will produce asewer flushing device, having given relative sizes of valve and bucket,which will operate positively and with little appreciable wear of thevalve ring, in a body of water of one-third greater maximum depth thansimilar devices heretofore employed and using a valve and a bucket ofsimilar'relative sizes.

In operation, the well is filled with water from the supply pipe 16. Asthe valve 23 is seated, the level of the water will gradually rise untilit has reached the outer intake end of the overflow pipe 33. When thewater reaches this point, it Will overflow into said overflow pipe anddownwardly into the tubular standard 29 to discharge into the bucket 35.This bucket will gradually fill and when the Weight of water therein issufficient to overcome the weight of the Valve and its connections, thebucket will be lowered and the valve will be raised to release the waterin the well, whereupon said water will rush through the valve openinginto the pit 11 and into the sewer conduit to effect a flushing of thesewer. W'hen the well and the pit are empty, the water remaining in thebucket will drain through the drain opening 42 and when said bucket isempty the mechanism will return to normal position, for a repetition ofthe operation.

From the above it should be evident that the employment of a raisedtubular valve seat tapered inwardly and upwardly and cooperating with asimilarly tapered valve ring and with the valve ring confined againstexpansion, constitutes a radical departure from and a marked improvementover the constructions heretofore employed in devices of this generalcharacter, and that the construction herein disclosed provides a devicein which the static pressure of the discharging water and the suctioncreated by its discharge serve to assist in the opening of the valve,thus distinguishing from the prior art devices in which the staticpressure and the suction act to defeat the opening of the valve.

While the specific form of mechanism herein illustrated and described isfully capable of fulfilling all of the objects primarily stated, it isto be understood that I do not wish to limit the invention in thisregard for it is susceptible of embodiment in various other forms, allcoming within the scope of the claims, which follow.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted tocontain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communicating witha sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet ancl having an annularupwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is formed to provide anannular valve seat; a non-buoyant valve having a lower valve seatengaging surface adapted to engage said member only on the valve seat atits top edge, to close said outlet; and means for opening said valve topermit a discharge of said flushing fluid into said sewer, the dischargeof said fluid being first directed upwardly by said annular wall toimpinge against the lower surface of the valve.

2. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted tocontain a body of flushingfluid and having an outlet communicating witha sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annularupwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is slightly angledinwardly and upwardly to provide an annular beveled valve seat; anon-buoyant valve having a lower valve seat engaging surface adapted toengage said member only on the valve seat at its top edge, to close saidoutlet; and means for opening said valve to permit a discharge of saidflushing fluid into said sewer, the discharge of said fluid being firstdirected upwardly by said annular wall to impinge against the lowersurface of the valve.

3. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted tocontain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communicating witha sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annularupwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is slightly angledinwardly and upwardly to provide an annular beveled valve seat; anon-buoyant valve member adapted to close said outlet, said valve memberhaving a valve ring confined in a groove in its lower surface and saidvalve ring having its lower valve seat engaging surface correspondinglybeveled and adapted to engage said member only on the valve seat at itstop edge; and means for opening said valve to permit a discharge of saidfluid into said sewer, the discharge of said fluid being first directedupwardly by said annular wall to impinge against the lower surfaces ofsaid valve member and said ring.

4:. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted tocontain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communicating witha sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annularupwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is formed to provide anannular beveled valve seat; a non-buoyant valve member adapted to closesaid outlet, said valve member having a valve ring confined in a groovein its lower surface with the lower surface of said valve ring disposedto engage said member only on the valve seat at its top edge; and meansfor opening said valve to permit a discharge of said fluid into saidsewer, the discharge of said fluid being first directed upwardly by saidannular wall to impinge against the lower surfaces of said valve memberand said ring.

5. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted tocontain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communicating witha sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annularupwardly projecting wall, the top edge of which is formed to provide anannular valve seat; a non-buoyant hollow bell-shaped valve member havingan annular groove cut in its lower surface; a valve ring confined insaid groove and adapted to engage said member only on the valve seat atits top edge, to close said outlet; and means for opening said valve topermit a discharge of said fluid into said sewer, the discharge ofsaidfluid being first directed upwardly by said annular wall to impingeagainst the lower surfaces of said valve member and said valve ring.

6. In a sewer flushing device, the combination of: a well adapted tocontain a body of flushing fluid and having an outlet communieating witha sewer; a tubular member surrounding said outlet and having an annularupwardly projecting wall. the top edge of which is slightlyangledinwar-dly and upwardly to provide an annular beveled valve seat; anon-buoyant hollow bell-shaped valve member having an annular groove cutin its lower surface; a valve ring confined in said groove, said valvering having its lower valve seat engaging surface correspondinglybeveled and adapted to engage said member only on the valve seat at its.top edge, to close said outlet; and means for opening said valve topermit a discharge of said fluid into said sewer, the discharge of saidfluid being first directed upwardly by said annular Wall to impingeagainst the lower surface of said valve member and said valve ring.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles,Galifornia, this 14th day of November, 1927. a

ROY C. HALYBURTON.

